Bradley County Insurance Committee recommends preferred company over savings

The benefit of keeping health insurance coverage that Bradley County government employees seem to like, outweighs $85,000 in savings that would be realized by switching providers.

That was the decision Wednesday afternoon from the Bradley County Commission's Insurance Committee. Members chose in a split vote to recommend to the full commission that coverage remain with Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company.

"It came down to BlueCross and Cigna, as it usually does," Bradley County Mayor D. Gary Davis said.

Davis told commissioners the county had gone through a bid process for health insurance benefits for employees. He said he always waits for renewal information, but noted it was "quite an increase" this year, so it was put out for bid.

In comparison, Davis said there was no change in coverage or cost when the insurance plan was renewed last year. The year before that, there was a cost decrease so he worked with the insurance company and "beefed up the benefits ... to net zero," he said.

Davis said this year's renewal rate went up based on claims history "and a year of COVID."

In all, bids were requested from Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare. Aetna and Humana declined to bid, while the UnitedHealthcare bid was "not close" to the nearly identical BlueCross BlueShield and Cigna bids, Davis said.

Any insurance company that wants to bid for Bradley County's health insurance is given the claims history so they can formulate a bid; the company submits the price based on claims history.

"There were a lot of fairly large claims this year," Davis said.

A review of the 31 claims exceeding $25,000 showed multiple diagnoses for cancer, heart disease and other medical conditions. The total amount of claims over $25,000 is $2,585,388.

Davis also said that only insurance companies can submit bids, noting that insurance agents cannot submit bids.

"Only insurance companies can bid insurance," Davis said, adding he understands insurance agents have complained to commissioners and elected officials about not being able to bid.

The committee then reviewed the Cigna and BlueCross bids.

Davis noted Bradley County currently pays $622 per employee, per month for insurance with Cigna, while BlueCross offered to contract with the county for $681 per employee, per month.

Davis said the Cigna bid is "still an increase" over the current year's costs, but it is less than the offer to renew Bradley County received. Bradley County's current monthly premium is $354,654 - the proposed renewal is $388,275 per month, a total percentage increase of 9.48%. With Cigna, the annual premium for insurance is $4,659,305.

In comparison, the BlueCross bid is a monthly premium of $381,184 - a 7.48% monthly increase over the current insurance plan. With BlueCross, the annual premium for insurance is $4,574,206.

The annual difference between the two bids is $85,099, or $7,091.58 per month.

Davis said while the BlueCross bid is the lowest, commissioners can determine which bid they consider to be the "lowest and best."

"Not always is the lowest the best," Davis said.

He added Bradley County Attorney Crystal Freiberg said commissioners have the option to choose which company they want to work with, noting they're "nearly identical" in deductibles and copays.

"You've got a choice between two good companies - almost identical bids, almost identical benefits," Davis said. "I'm happy with the bids, but it does give you a tough decision."

Davis also discussed rebates given as part of the Affordable Care Act - also known as "Obamacare" - noting Cigna's annual premium and rebate to Bradley County is 3.23%, while BlueCross BlueShield's if 1.23%.

Regarding rebates, Pam Nelson with Ocoee Insurance Services - the county's insurance broker - noted the county's contract with Cigna is "a little bit different" than it would be with BlueCross BlueShield in that Cigna pays an "extra dividend" based only on the county's insurance group. She said over the past 12 years, Bradley County has received $616,000 back from Cigna, in the form of dividends.

"It's an extra benefit you have that we won't have if we move you to BlueCross," Nelson said.

After discussing whether it is worth the "headache" to switch insurance companies - with Commissioner Charlotte Peak supporting remaining with the current provider that employees seem to be happy with, and Commissioner Mike Hughes advocating for saving $85,000 by switching - commissioners ultimately voted 4-1 to remain with Cigna.

The insurance renewal recommendation will be presented to the full commission Monday, during its noon voting session.

In other discussion:

Davis mentioned the history of the companies that have provided Bradley County's insurance coverage. He recalled a previous time when the county switched to BlueCross in order to save a couple hundred-thousand dollars, because the existing provider's renewal rate was too high. However, the rates increased so much the next year that the county switched again, back to the previous company.

Davis encouraged commissioners to share the information they learned about the insurance bid process with employees, when they ask or comment about perceived shortcomings in the plan.

"We provide a good benefit package," Davis said.

Davis said Bradley County pays 100% of premiums for its employees, but noted the funding is not available in the budget to pay for any part of family coverage. He acknowledged the city of Cleveland does that, and sometimes county employees comment about it.

However, he noted the county pays its employees' premiums, while the city does not.

"That can always be changed by you all, but it does take dollars to change it," he said, adding he is not aware that covering part of family coverage costs has been a top priority for commissioners or other elected officials.

Committee members agreed to put the issue before the Finance Committee in the next budget process, so commissioners can have information on cost and options for paying part of family coverage.